Lili Boulanger: The Pioneering French Composer
French composer and first woman to win the Prix de RomeBorn into a musical family, Lili Boulanger demonstrated exceptional talent from childhood. Despite lifelong health struggles, she won the Prix de Rome at age 19. Her compositions blended impressionism with profound emotional depth. She died at 24, leaving a legacy of innovative orchestral, choral, and chamber works.
- At age two, Boulanger contracted bronchial pneumonia, leading to chronic intestinal tuberculosis (now believed to be Crohn's disease) that plagued her throughout her life.
- She made history in 1913 by becoming the first woman to win the Prix de Rome for her cantata 'Faust et Hélène', defeating 72 male competitors.
- Her sister Nadia Boulanger (famous composition teacher) transcribed Lili's final work 'Pie Jesu' from dictation as she lay dying.
- She worked on the opera 'La Princesse Maleine' while bedridden during World War I, leaving it unfinished at her death from intestinal tuberculosis complications at 24.